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It’s Nice That’s Graduates 2016!

It’s Nice That launched The Graduates back in 2009, and each year we’re blown away by the young creative talent that’s out there. The scheme is open to all BA students coming to the end of their studies in the UK, and those selected are profiled on the website and receive mentorship from the It’s Nice That team.

It wasn’t easy whittling down a whopping 900-odd entries to just 14 this year, but our final selection demonstrates what we feel all work that appears on It’s Nice That does: originality, great execution, and something special.

Spanning visual communication, illustration, photography, graphic design and animation, the work you see on the site today arrives from a bunch of brilliant young creatives who we think we’ll be seeing a lot more from in future.

No one said art school was going to be easy, especially in the last few frantic months. If you’re a graduate, you know all this already. There’s likely been a lot of late nights, a few meltdowns and a lot of fun too on the path to finding out who and what you are as a creative. There’s a lot more to come, but it’s an exciting time: the next few months mark the transition from student to grad, and the first steps into a creative career.

And while graduating can be scary, it’s pretty amazing: whatever discipline you’re working in, your ideas are fresh, you’re passionate about what you’re doing and you’re willing to learn. That makes you brilliant, and that’s why we’re so grateful to each and every one of you for getting in touch with us and sharing your work with us as part of It’s Nice That’s Graduates 2016.

We’d like to offer massive thanks to G. F Smith for its support of The Graduates 2016, and thanks again to all of you who entered for constantly surprising and inspiring us here at It’s Nice That.

Tim Bowditch: The Graduates 2016

Tim Bowditch: The Graduates 2016

Tim Bowditch: The Graduates 2016

Tim Bowditch: The Graduates 2016

Tim Bowditch: The Graduates 2016

Tim Bowditch: The Graduates 2016

Tim Bowditch: The Graduates 2016

Tim Bowditch: The Graduates 2016

Tim Bowditch: The Graduates 2016

G . F Smith

It’s Nice That’s Graduates 2016 is kindly supported by G . F Smith, whose gorgeous range of papers and services can be just the thing for new and soon-to-be creative grads. The 130-year-old paper company has a long history of working with designers and artists at all stages of their careers, with its high-quality and innovative paper products offering a huge range of creative possibilities.

Since 2014, G . F Smith has been creating Make Books for projects and portfolios that need a bespoke touch. The hardback books are assembled by experts at the company’s headquarters in Hull and are a stunning example of the brand’s passion for photographic print. To get a deeper insight into the process and the possibilities, we asked some of our 2016 Grads to design and have printed their very own Make Books, all created in just seven days.

As a fresh-faced and eager young graduate, you’ll likely be looking for the best way to get your work out there and in front of as many eyes as possible. You’ve got a glittering portfolio, but do you need an agent too? We spoke to a bunch of creatives, and their opinions varied wildly.

A new crop of graduates are currently taking the first tentative steps in their career at the moment. This transition between the academic and working world is at once exciting and daunting, sometimes it can be easy to forget just what is important at this stage in your professional development. We spoke to a clutch of creatives to ask them to share advice and insight into the things they feel are key to remember at this time.

Unfortunately the thorny issue of working or pitching for free isn’t one that’s going anywhere anytime soon. And while we’re sure everyone would agree that you should get paid for work you do, are there some situations where just for the pure joy of creating, it’s OK to make something for nada? DesignStudio’s executive strategic creative director James Hurst thinks not: “If we agree that beer and drugs are free. Until then, get paid, it is expensive working.”

Maddy Mould is an illustrator with a passion for pattern and print. She has just completed her BA illustration degree at the University of Cumbria and has a portfolio that demonstrates a bold use of colour and enthusiastic experiments with how her style might be applied to different textiles. “After taking fine art at college I was told by my tutor that the work I was making was ‘too illustration-y’. I thought, fine, that’s what I’ll do then,” says Maddy. “I love illustration because it’s all about creating images to be used for everyday things; to go with newspaper articles, or on juice cartons or shopping bags or whatever. It brightens up mundane things and is everywhere.”
Her A5 zine Two Chinas catalogues the juxtapositions between the traditions of the nation and its acceleration to modernity with lively depictions of her experiences. Maddy’s four colour print Roman Menagerie draws inspiration from the Roman heritage of Carlisle and presents them in an impressionist style with a pop colour palette. “I love working with simple geometric shapes, and I’ve found that the majority of my work uses a particular colour palette,” says Maddy. “A lot of the time, my work begins with papercuts and I use this really lovely pack of sugar paper. I learned I work best like this and with these sort of grubby pastel tones. I scan in the papers and collage them digitally – this keeps the texture, something I like to think is visible in my work.”